My little women and me

Since the sister missionaries are the young women leaders, the girls have got to hang out with them extra.  It is a real perk to being in this tiny branch.  One of the tidbits of Korean culture that they taught the girls about was the idea that the Halmonis of Korea rule the country. If a Halmoni runs you over, it's your fault for being in her way.  If you're sitting down, you're in Halmoni's spot.  We've seen it at Halmoni's house. If Halmoni tells you to eat, you eat! You don't even bother arguing with her.

So now I will share my favorite moment of our trip so far.  Halmoni. Sweet little Halmoni. She is well under 5 feet, 97 years old and just sweet as can be.  She has a walker she uses sometimes that is pretty epic. It is like a stroller with a little spot if she gets tired and a place for her to put her goods.  It needs better wheels but it is a nice concept.  We were waiting at an intersection with her and her walker when it was our turn to go. Two twenty something girls were in front of Halmoni and apparently hadn't seen the light turn green. She RAMMED her wheels into their heels and said "bali ka!" (Hurry and go!)  We were behind her so we got to laugh about it without being rude but the real indicator of Korean culture was that the girls instantly started moving and didn't have any negative reaction.  Halmoni told them to go and they went! I'm sure I wouldn't laugh if it was my heels being rammed into but it was so out of character for the Halmoni we know. If Halmoni tells you to do something, you better not hesitate!

With Chris here, we only went to school for half the day and then went to find a way to the mountains.  There are mountains all around and Chris' mom had asked that I wait for her so I don't get lost.  I figured that Chris and I could handle it or die in the mountains together. ;) Chloe hurt her ankle yesterday and Lilly has a cold so they stayed home.   It is extremely humid right now so the 5 of us that went sweat buckets while finding a nice trail up the mountain. We didn't make it to a view point as some of the girls were feeling a little whiney but we did hike up, up, up with minimal switchbacks. I look forward to going there again when it is cooler outside and with Chloe, who is always up for an adventure.  We ended the hike with snow ice, which made it 100 times more amazing.  (And the snow ice was served in an air conditioned cafe...I hadn't realized how much I've missed air conditioning.)